I’m of the opinion that getting piercings and tattoos (and appreciating them) are a generational thing. I’m 37 - I think piercings and tattoos are unattractive and generally a bad idea. Most people I know around my age agree with me. I know very few people my age who have piercings (beyond pierced ears) and/or tattoos.
I’m really interested to see what has happened to the extremists in tattoos and piercings in 10 - 20 years. What happens with a guy who has both arms and his back completely covered in tattoos, or someone who has had their earlobes stretched wide enough to stick your fist through?
I’ve passed over qualified job applicants because of facial piercings. The thought of having it ruin my coffee every day is more than I’m willing to deal with. Short sighted, I know; unfair, yes; probably illegal. But screw it.
I think mhendo has nailed it. All of these body alterations are done to gain a sense of being “hip”. If not for some shock value, it would go unnoticed. The more uncommon the visual display, the greater the degree of “hipness”.
I personally find gold buggers repulsive and more importantly, distracting. It’s as if the person is screaming for attention.
I’m 45 and came the same conclusion about youthful style (which I can ignore) but piercings and tattoos take it a step further because they alter the body and are somewhat permanent. It’s hard to talk about this without insulting someone or putting them into a defensive position (which is not my intent). I suffer from the mindset of my depression era parents and piercings/tattoos would have been looked at as both temporary and frivolous. I could imagine what my own mother would say: “you’re fine just the way God made you… and get a haircut, you look like a bum”.
From an ear stretcher, I know that earlobes are quite good at returning to a normal size. A friend of mine had his lobes stretched large enough to stick his finger through. He took them out, and withing a few months, you almost couldn’t see the holes any more. Any piercing will shrink to a slight dimple if left empty long enough.
Just for education purposes, hehe.
I’ve never been a cutter. Low self-esteem, yes. But from my circle of friends, I’ve observed that cutters are people with severe depression problems. One told me that she cut because, “A little physical pain makes the emotional pain go away.” Her parents never got her on meds, despite her arms and legs just being a crosshatch of scars. Wonder why she was depressed.
Now, I dunno if there’s any evidence to back this up or not. shrug Just my observations.
Hell yeah. Hidden piercings are great. One of my partners had a tongue ring which I didn’t notice until it was in my mouth. I wear a nipple ring under my white business shirts. (Left nipple, so it’s hidden by my shirt pocket. ;))
I really dig women with tiny nose studs. I’ve seen some so tiny and subtle they looked like a shiny piece of stray glitter until you concentrated on it. Mmm!
I’ve never been to this site before. Interesting thread.
NoClueBoy: People get genital piercings for the same reason your girlfriend got her tongue pierced. That is, if what you were insinuating was sexual pleasure.
People have been piercing their ears for years. It’s so common, I’m surprised anybody would even notice it anymore, much less find the need to comment on it.
Many of you seem somewhat judgmental. Who are you to call people trashy or question the motives behind their appearances or actions?
No, I find piercings unattractive in an entirely passionless way. I kind of see it like makeup applied by a drunk - an attempt to look better that has had exactly the opposite effect.
Men - eyebrows, lips, and ears are dead sexy generally. I haven’t seen a guy so far who looks bad with any of those. Nose are okay, but it depends on the features. Nipples, tongue and bellybutton are just weird to me.
Women - eyebrows, ears, nose (if it’s a small stud, not ring) and bellybutton looks great. Lips are sometimes okay but not for the majority.
I used to think tattoos were gross, but then I realized they were great if they weren’t too many. If they are there for some sort of sentimental value, opposed to just covering your body with colours just for the hell of it, then the better.
It doesn’t do anything for me. It also doesn’t really bother me either. I guess it leaves me indifferent. I guess that I’ve seen enough of them that I no longer notice them. The stretched earlobe and the mouth disks still have the ability to shock me, but if they ever become more common, I suppose I won’t notice them much either.
I don’t see any other reason for it. There’s no logical excuse for tattoos or piercings. People do it ostensibly because they claim it makes them look better, even though it doesn’t and I think they know it down inside. That means they are mutilating themselves, just like the cutters do.
I find piercings to be dead sexy as well. Tongues, lips, nipples, eyebrows … I haven’t had the privilege of encountering genital piercings close-up but I have heard positive reviews of them.
Could some of this be culturally based? Spacers are common in traditional African costume, South Asian women often pierce their noses. In those cultures they are seen more as a norm whereas here we are apt to think “That’s just f*cked up.”
No, it’s not f*cked up, it’s just not a usual part of mainstream North American culture.
I don’t find piercings to be sexy at all. Of course, I get woozy when I have to have blood drawn, so it may be the association with getting stuck - who knows.
One thing I find very unattractive is a person who fidgets with piercings in public. Not too long ago, I went out to lunch. As I walked into the restaurant, the girl behind the register was playing with her tongue ball. To this day, I can see the image of her tongue sticking out as she fidgeted… <shudder> definitely out of place in the restaurant!
Facial piercings give me major heebie-jeebies. I don’t find them attractive. I generally look away. And the thought of nipple or genital piercings make me quite ill… ick
I find piercings and tattoos ugly and repulsive. Sorry. Nothing personal against those who like them, but I really, really do not understand why anyone would do that to themsleves. To me, all tattoos are equally hideous, and I don’t care if it’s a liddle widdle artistic butterfly. They all look ugly to me.
I couldn’t have a boyfriend who had a tattoo. I would not want anyone with any tattoo anywhere touching me, nor would I want to touch him. They repulse me. Feel much the same about piercings. Ear piercings are okay (my ears aren’t even pierced, but that’s down to indifference than any stong feeling against it, I’m just not much of a jewellry person), but anything else, I’m ewwwwwwww.
Does that make me judgemental? IMHO, nah, ít just makes me someone who knows what she does and doesn’t like and is very firm about it! YMMV etc.
I’m with brujo on this. It doesn’t really do anything for me one way or the other. I’d say that, by and large, piercings seem less permanent than tattoos, because don’t they normally close up when you stop wearing the ring or stud or what have you?
But there is a new trend toward having your tongue forked. Be very afraid…
Good to know. I’ve seen some serious ear stretching around these parts and I all I can think of is someone in a job interview flopping around with strings of flesh hanging down. Yah, yah… I already admitted I was old.
I’ve always wondered what would happen if every retired geezer went on a tattoo/piercing frenzy. Would the trend continue in the land of youth?
